Craig Calcaterra

It’s not been the best day for Mets fans, what with the Phillies getting Cliff Lee, the Yankees fans making themselves feel better by saying “well, hell, at least we ain’t Mets fans,” and the Kansas City media realizing that, hey, Jeff Francoeur is a winner after all (who knew?!) But there is some good…

UPDATE: Susan Slusser reports that Matsui is going to make just less than $5 million for next season (Update: Olney says it’s $4.25 million). But hey, the A’s are going to pony up for his translator and his PR person. Which, given the horde of Japanese media that follows Matsui around, is definitely a full-time…

Brian Cashman just spoke to the media. Surprisingly, the signing of Russell Martin wasn’t the main topic of conversation. That kid from Arkansas who can’t hack the Big Apple was. No, not Burnett. The other one. Cashman’s remarks included a lot of expected spin. Spin designed, it would seem, to disabuse other teams out there…

It’s one thing for Cliff Lee to decide that he’s not cut out for New York. Or for him to think that he’s simply better-cut-out for someplace else. It’s another thing altogether for people who don’t know a thing about the guy to assume they know that. Guys like George Vecsey of the New York…

There’s always a bunch of crazy stuff spewed out there when a big deal goes down. Heck, I spew half of it. Here’s a list of the silly things I’ve heard in the 12 hours since the Cliff Lee deal was announced, both on Twitter and in comments to our various Cliff Lee posts: “Cliff…

Last night, in an admitted fit of hyperbole and sleep-deprivation, I wrote that the 2011 Phillies may be better than those Braves rotations of the 1990s. I still think such a thing is possible inasmuch as it would not take a career year from each and every one of them to match what the 1997…

Note: you may not want to go to Port St. Lucie in February and March. Why? Because Andy Martino, who covers the Mets for the New York Daily News, and who used to cover the Phillies, has a promise to keep. From a report he made from the Winter Meetings last week: Here’s some of…

UPDATE: I somehow missed a Jerry Crasnick tweet on this that said that the Phillies offer had either a $27.5 million vesting option for 2016 or a $12.5 million buyout. If so, that makes the Phillies deal that much better. In fact, it probably makes it better than the Yankees’ deal in absolute terms as…

The easy answer is that the Phillies and their fans are the biggest winners here. That goes without saying and explanation, I hope. But let’s look at the others in this epic story to see who comes out ahead and who comes out behind by Cliff Lee joining the Phillies: WINNERS Ruben Amaro: I said…

UPDATE: Now ESPN Boston and the Boston Globe are hearing that a Joe Blanton deal is not close and may not, in fact, happen. For the next 24 hours, I think baseball is going to be like the people of Los Angeles in the movie “1941.” Panicking. Seeing things behind every corner. Americans fighting Americans.…

Yesterday Jon Heyman said there was a “Mystery Team” in on Cliff Lee. Many mocked, but we mocked harder than anyone. Indeed, if you do a Google search for “Heyman Cliff Lee Mystery Team,” HardballTalk posts take the top three spots. And you know what happened next. There was a Mystery Team. And it actually signed the…

This comes from an anonymous New York Yankee official quoted by the Daily News’ Mark Feinsand in the wake of the Cliff Lee deal: “Anybody who would leave $50M on the table obviously doesn’t want to pitch in New York. Thank God we found out in time.” That might be the most ridiculous quote I’ve…

Halladay. Lee. Hamels. Oswalt. And whoever. I’m not going to waste your time with wondering whether that’s the best rotation in the game today, because it clearly is. Any arguable next-best rotation probably has one guy who would crack that top four, and if you think otherwise, you’re dreaming. No, we need to go with…

It’s not just a Yankees world in which we’re all living, but in this case, the implications for the Bombers losing out on Cliff Lee are the most interesting. Philly? Heck, print up their NL East championship t-shirts already. The Rangers? They seem like they felt they were out of it for a week now,…

Jose Canseco has taken to Twitter the past few days, talking about his desire to play baseball again. Among the more notable tweets: I can dh for any major league team and lead the league in home runs,just give me the chance I will show everyone that steroids are completely overrated once I get the…

Sandy Alderson was on WFAN this afternoon, and he had this to say about Mets’ fans least favorite Mets: Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo: “If they don’t earn their way on the team, they won’t be on the team” It’s a transition year for the Mets. In some ways that’s a bad thing because it…

We’ve had great fun today with Jon Heyman’s mystery team, but the nagging thought remains: what if there actually is a mystery team? To be clear: even if a new team interested in Cliff Lee’s services emerges beyond the Yankees and the Rangers, Heyman is not vindicated. His peddling of “mystery team” reports appears to…

More news that is not Cliff Lee-related: Hundreds of baseball bats are broken by pro baseball players over the course of a season in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. The bits & pieces don’t go to waste, however, instead being reborn into cool chopsticks carrying NPB team names, colors and logos. They’re called “Kattobashi,” a play on…

The Chicago White Sox signed reliever Brian Bruney to a minor league contract. He had a 7.64 ERA for the Nationals this past season and no one else gave him a shot once they dumped him, so I can see why the White Sox wanted to get this one nailed down before Christmas. I dunno, maybe…

The Associated Press reports that the average salary in Major League Baseball has surpassed $3 million for the first time. Here’s a breakdown of the average salaries and minimum salaries in Major League Baseball going back to 1967. Two thoughts: 1) I remember back in the 80s when Sports Illustrated ran a story with all…

Buster Olney passes along word that, in the event the Yankees don’t get Cliff Lee, they will likely not pursue Zack Greinke as a “Plan B,” which is what many have assumed they’d do. Buster doesn’t say why, but I assume it has to do with the concerns about his makeup/anxiety disorder and, oh yeah, the…

I feel like we’ve reported on this multiple times already, but now it’s finally offical. The Mets have named their coaching staff: Dave Hudgens is the hitting coach, Ken Oberkfell is the bench coach, Mookie Wilson as first base coach, Chip Hale as third base coach, Dan Warthen is the pitching coach and Jon Debus as bullpen…

I can’t remember the last time so much has been said so early in the offseason about so minor a free agent as Russell Martin, but I guess that’s what happens when Boston and New York get involved. The latest: Buster Olney says that he believes the Yankees will soon reach an agreement with Russell Martin.*…

Ken Rosenthal reports that the Dodgers are talking to Bill Hall, late of the Red Sox, about coming west to be their everyday left fielder. Hall is a useful guy to have around as long as you’re not paying him extravagantly. His bat can’t carry left field — he hit .247/.316/.456 last season and that…

Karl Ravech — via a tweet from Buster Olney — reports that the Texas Rangers are “moving aggressively” on Adrian Beltre. Which suggests that they think they’re not going to get Cliff Lee, as there is no way Texas can sign both of them. Earlier this morning we heard reports that the Yankees have been in…